21 June 2025

This year's Society of Antiquaries Rhind Lectures will be delivered by Dr Simon Taylor on Scotland's Place-names. The six talks will take place Friday - Sunday on-line or in person in Edinburgh. Free, and you can come to all or just individual talks. For details and how to book see Eventbrite.

21 June 2025

Living history weekend at Highland Folk Museum, with Alan Breck's Volunteer Regiment. Re-enactment of rising in 1745

Further details see their website.

21 June 2025

Creative Writing Workshop at Dingwall Museum

Led by Shona Vance

Free, but donations welcome. Book via enquiries@dingwallmuseum.com or phone 01349 865366

Join us as we use items from Dingwall Museum’s collection to spark creative writing projects.

Shona Vance writes under the pen name S.G. MacLean and is the author of the Damien Seeker novels as well as The Bookseller of Inverness, recently longlisted for both a CWA Gold and Historical Dagger Award.

21 June 2025

NOSAS will continue with excavation of the "barns" at Tarradale, near Muir of Ord, on Friday 20th, Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd June. They are uncovering post-medieval building remains which are most likely the remains of farm buildings shown on the 1788 map. Previously they have also excavated a substantial boundary wall and a probable corn drying kiln. For further details see the blog about last year’s work and the Tarradale website.

All are welcome to volunteer, regardless of experience.  This will be a good opportunity to brush up on excavation skills, with less physically demanding roles available for those not wishing to dig.  The digging day will be 10am to 4.30 pm.

Contact James McComas if you are interested in attending. Please advise which days you can come and whether you are happy to dig, or would prefer other tasks.

21 June 2025

A Kind of Freedom: Stories from the Herring Girls

Talk by Jill De Fresnes

Organised by Timespan Museum, Helmsdale. Part of their Salt & Silver Solstice Festival. Free. Further details and bookings from their website.

Dr. Jill de Fresnes shares her research on the Scots Herring Girls – the vast migratory workforce of women who travelled with the herring fleets in the 19th and 20th centuries, gutting and packing fish along the coasts of Scotland and down to East Anglia. Drawing on oral histories, photographs, and popular media, Jill explores how these women lived, travelled, worked, and formed their own cultures. A multi-media presentation based on the recollections and representations of the women themselves from around Scotland who worked in the Scots Herring fishery, collected by Jill as the main source for her research on the fishing communities in the early 2000s.

21 June 2025

Red Herring Exhibition Tour 

Organised by Timespan Museum, Helmsdale. Part of their Salt & Silver Solstice Festival. Free. Further details and bookings from their website.

Director and curator Giulia Gregnanin and artist Joanne Coates will lead an exhibition tour of Red Herring. Timespan’s summer show, brings in dialogue, exciting new photographic and performance commissions by Coates and archival materials exploring the legacies of the Herring Girls. Join the presentation to gain insights into the research, working-class histories, and forgotten narratives that shaped the project.

Limited spaces, booking essential

21 June 2025

Solstice Ceremony, with BBQ and Songs

Organised by Timespan Museum, Helmsdale. Part of their Salt & Silver Solstice Festival. Free. Further details and bookings from their website.